Malawi
A hospital in Malawi recorded more child rabies deaths than any other single institution in Africa during 2015. Since then, we have been fighting for a safer world for communities in Malawi.
Project overview
Rabies is a disease of poverty, and it disproportionately impacts the world’s most disadvantaged areas. Malawi remains one of the world’s poorest countries and a hotspot for rabies – as a result the disease places a huge burden on the country and communities living within it.
Back in 2015, our work started in Blantyre, the second largest city in Malawi, after the Queen Elizabeth Hospital recorded the highest number of child rabies deaths from any institution across the whole of Africa.
Since then, our teams have been working tirelessly to change these statistics. It has become a flagship project with vaccination, education, and surveillance programmes headed up by permanent teams.
The success of our programme in Blantyre has enabled us to expand our reach into the neighbouring districts of Zomba, Chiradzulu, Thyolo, Balaka, and Chikwawa. Both human rabies cases and canine rabies cases have been reduced in the areas in which we work and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre reports of child rabies deaths fell to one in 2017.
We have been continuing to deliver our programmes throughout Malawi. In 2024, during a month-long campaign on the weekends in Blantyre City, over 26,000 dogs were vaccinated against this deadly disease.
Key stats
- 1,084,869 dogs vaccinated in Malawi to date
- 5,844,078 children educated in Malawi to date
- 86,914 teachers trained in Malawi to date
Project partners
- Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development
